In the Devil's Clutches

This morning I woke up at 5:00 and prayed, "Lord, I'm available to You today. Use me however You want." And I know people must have been praying for me today because I physically felt so good all day at work.

I became curious as to what God might be doing when I received my list of assigned patients. One of them was a meth user, who had had no prenatal care. She had already had 5 children (one just 8 months ago), none of whom she had custody. When she arrived at the hospital, she delivered a baby boy in the ER. An hour later, to everyone's surprise, she delivered a baby girl. Her twins were 13 weeks early and tested positive for meth. They went straight to the neonatal intensive care unit.

I found myself feeling angry that this woman could be so selfish. How could she not care about her own children? I asked her, "Did you think about how using meth might affect your babies?" She shrugged and replied carelessly, "No, not really."

Wow! She didn't even try to pretend that she cared! It then struck me that this woman was in bondage, deep spiritual bondage. She probably couldn't think of anyone's well-being. I probed more gently, "Have you ever talked to God about your problems? Has no one ever told you about God?" Her response confirmed my suspicions. Her face became like stone. Her eyes shut tight, ears deaf to my question. Silence. I waited for her reply and stared at her face. Still nothing. She had the look of death. And I realized that she was in the devil's clutches.

I wished I could lead her to Jesus, where she could find freedom from demonic oppression. But she would not have it. My initial anger had vanished; all I could feel was compassion toward this haunted soul. I couldn't save her, but I could pray for her. And that's what I did.